Little problems

I saw a chipmunk on my front porch this morning. It was not a happy
discovery. Now I have chipmunks as well as squirrels and rats to make a
mess of everything. Luckily chipmunks aren't very active in the winter-
being "almost hibernators". And winter is almost here- even though you
would never know it from the beautiful weather we have been having.

The stupid squirrels are in the attic again. And from there they like to
come down inside the back porch to get into the sunflower seed for the birds
and to destroy my plants out there. They chewed off the tops of a geranium
of all things and dug up my tuberous begonia to hide nuts.

I wish I could leave the door open all the time so the dogs could get in
there and possibly kill them. But we have a lot of stuff stored out there
and the dogs could be just as much trouble with that as the squirrels.
Barack would probably carry all the tools outside and Ginger would be
climbing all over my plants to look out the window. It's a toss up.

I put rat poison in the barn again and now I get to deal with dead and dying
rats. But at least we may save on the feed bill. We are also having
trouble with sparrows coming in to eat the chicken feed. That just started
this summer. We never had this much trouble with the birds before. I think
it's because there are no cats left except the one wild one and Vicky the
visitor cat. The birds come through the chicken door and through the barn
door because we leave it open for the turkeys. When I walk in the barn they
fly all over, batting themselves into the plastic covered windows. If I had
a badminton racquet I could really hit the birdies.

Lily my horse became the victim of my kindness. I had to lock her in the
east pasture after she foundered a bit on the grass in the west pasture. I
firmly believe, as does the vet, that the walnuts are the culprit over
there. She doesn't eat them but I think they lay on the grass and leach
their toxin on it or she eats leaves from the trees when they fall.

Anyway she was recovering nicely from that but the grass was mostly gone
from the east side. So I bought hay - 1st cutting alfalfa mix first, but
then I bought a bale of 4th cutting and after a day or two she foundered on
that. (Foundering makes the horses hooves swell with blood and it's very
painful for them to walk. It can become so bad they have to be put down.
It's caused by too much sugar and carbs in the diet).

I bought some 2nd cutting mix but the vet said that was still way too rich
and said I had to find 1st cutting grass hay, which isn't as easy as it
sounds. I was lucky and got some from a big dairy farm on the East side of
Marlette- right on our road.

Lily is now doing much better and walking well. No grain and only a little
bit of carrot or apple for her now. Vet says she needs to lose 50 pounds-
but that sounds a little extreme for her size. She is on bute, a pain
killer, that I don't like and hopefully can soon be weaned off of it. She
was locked up in the small pasture right behind the barn, which is
essentially without any grass but last night she pushed open the gate to the
east pasture just before I went out to feed her. Luckily that grass is dry
and she wasn't out there long. And it proves she feels better.

The vet said she needs a companion and I do agree. I am going to find
another mini, pony or goat for her. She is bored and has nothing to do but
eat. Steve wants a goat I think. I do like goats but they are hard to keep
inside a fence and get in a lot of trouble. And I wonder if the cross
species company is really that satisfying for them.

The turkeys are laying eggs- very odd for the fall. Maybe it means we will
have no winter- spring is already here. Wouldn't that be great?

November 1, 2010

It's a pretty day, cold but pretty. Today was the first morning this fall
that the hose at the barn was frozen. It must have gone well below freezing
last night because there was ice on the bucket that I ran the night before
in anticipation of the hose freezing. It said 32 degrees at the thermometer
just outside the barn. I forgot my gloves, hard to get used to that again,
and my hands were freezing. But inside the barn the water hadn't froze -
the barn does stay a few degrees warmer than outside even though the windows
are still open.

The leaves are falling off the catalpa and mulberry trees like rain; they
hold their leaves and drop them all at once after a hard freeze. I can see
the neighbor's houses again now that most of the leaves have fallen off the
trees. After the color has dropped it always seems a little drab and
"exposed" around here.

The geese have been extremely noisy in the morning. They are taking the
corn off the fields around here and lots of it is spilled on the roads and
edges of the fields. Big flocks of geese are actually flying north-
following the harvest as it moves south to north. I have seen ducks, cranes
and swans flying south but not geese.

One beautiful migrant I was lucky to see was a bald eagle. He was feeding
on some road kill one frosty morning. It took me a minute to realize why
the "buzzard" I was seeing had a white head and tail. I was also fortunate
enough to see a Great Horned owl at daylight one morning. He was sitting in
a field trying to eat something he had caught while early rising crows were
dive bombing him.

I started feeding Lily, my horse, hay again. There is still plenty of nice
green grass in the west pasture but she foundered on it (went lame) either
because the grass was too rich or because she was getting too many windfall
apples or autumn olive berries. We had to pen her in the smaller east
pasture. There was still some grass there but it was older, tougher stuff.
Of course she has eaten most of that and now we added hay.

It's a shame to have all this pasture and not be able to let her roam and
eat it. I was naïve to think that I could give a couple of little horses
the nearly wild experience and just observe and play with them. Maybe it
would work if I had more horses to eat the pasture but they are so expensive
to feed through the winter.

Lily has lost some weight - which is really good for her- since being on the
east side. It is really hard for me to ration what she eats but the
expression "eat like a horse" is quite apt. Horses will eat continuously
until they make themselves sick. And Lily probably eats more because she
has no companion this year to run and play with. One day I will find the
right new friend for her.

Squirrels are back in the attic again. I am going to have to throw some
poison around up there. I also saw a squirrel drop a nut down our sewer
vent pipe on the roof. I wonder how many more are in there. And I know of
no way to get them out. I do not think squirrels are cute. These little
red monsters around here are mean and destructive.

Ah fall, I wish it could stay at least until spring. Does that make sense?
I am starting to sense winter coming. I dread winter. So not fun doing
chores and driving in it. I hate wearing coats and particularly boots. I
hope it's at least like last winter - not too cold or snowy.